Lifeboat Foundation

Explorer 1 marked the entry of science into what had been a military affair.

Lonnie Reid is nationally recognized in turbomachinery for his knowledge of internal flow in advanced aerospace propulsion systems. He has a long history of integrating the theoretical and experimental elements of fluid dynamics work to expand the database of compressor and fan design. He has not only demonstrated excellent leadership skills in several positions, including as chief of the Internal Fluid Mechanics Division, but has been influential in recruiting and mentoring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Lonnie Reid was born on September 5, 1935, in Gastonia, North Carolina. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a mechanical engineering degree from Tennessee State University. He joined the NASA Lewis Research Center as a research engineer shortly after graduating in 1961 and spent the next 20 years as both a researcher and manager in the Compressor Section of the Fluid Systems Components Division.

In the early 1960s the group focused on improving the performance of high-speed turbopumps that pumped cryogenic propellants in space vehicles. The pumping of liquid hydrogen in near-boiling conditions, referred to as “cavitation,” was a particular concern. The fluids systems researchers improved pump designs and demonstrated the ability to pump hydrogen in cavitating conditions. These were key contributions to the success of the Centaur and Saturn upper-stage rockets.

University of Central Florida researchers are building on their technology that could pave the way for hypersonic flight, such as travel from New York to Los Angeles in under 30 minutes.

In their latest research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers discovered a way to stabilize the detonation needed for hypersonic propulsion by creating a special hypersonic reaction chamber for jet engines.

The UCF-developed propulsion system could allow for flight speeds of Mach 6 to 17 and would have applications in air and space travel.

Continue reading “Flying at Speeds up to Mach 17 Could Become Reality” »

United States Marines outsmarted artificially intelligent (AI) security cameras by hiding in a cardboard box and standing behind trees.

Former Pentagon policy analyst Paul Scharre has recalled the story in his upcoming book Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Russia is one of the top three countries with the largest nuclear arsenal. However, it has struggled to catch up with America’s latest ICBM technologies during the last decade.

But all that is about to change with the nation’s latest addition to its vast arsenal: the state-of-the-art Satan 2 or Sarmat bomb.

Continue reading “Russia Says 16,000mph Satan-2 Nuke is Ready” »

The DEIMOS laser weapon is seen here in illustration, capable in the near future of knocking a drone, ordinance, aircraft and even missiles out of the sky.

It is the economics of laser weapon systems that makes this type of ordinance so attractive. At the moment various vendors like Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon are building 50 Kilowatt laser weapons. But there is no determining limit on the strength. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates a 100 Kilowatt laser could easily handle a drone, a small boat, a shell fired by artillery, and even a mortar. For a cruise missile, the estimate is a 300 Kilowatt laser, and for a ballistic missile or hypersonic weapon, a 1 Megawatt laser. Lockheed Martin is already testing a 300 Kilowatt version of DEIMOS.

The US Navy is looking at 100 Kilowatt versions of DEIMOS for its ships and looks like it will replace arming vessels with rail gun technology which now appears to be considered obsolete. Rail guns were high-speed ordinance systems designed to knock down incoming cruise missiles but when costs are compared the laser has the technology beat.

Continue reading “U.S. Military Plans to Deploy Laser Weapons by 2025” »

A four-star US General has warned of a possible conflict with China most likely over Taiwan as early as 2025. He urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year and internal memorandum over the issue emerged in social media and was later confirmed genuine by the Pentagon.

#us #china #worldnews.

Continue reading “U.S. General Minihan warns of a possible conflict with China over Taiwan | World News | English News” »

A device developed at the University of Florida for the U.S. military provides protection from mosquitos for an extended period and requires no heat, electricity or skin contact.

The controlled-release passive device was designed by Nagarajan Rajagopal, a Ph.D. candidate and Dr. Christopher Batich in UF’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. It recently was tested successfully in a four-week semi-field study at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Gainesville in a collaboration with Dr. Daniel Kline, Dr. Jerry Hogsette and Adam Bowman from the USDA’s Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology.

Results showed the controlled release of the repellent transfluthrin was effective in preventing multiple species of mosquitos from entering the testing site. Transfluthrin is an organic insecticide considered to be safe for humans and animals.

Microsoft made a multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, reigniting an old rivalry with Google. The move also set off an “AI arms race” that puts Google at risk. FT explains.